I rooted my EVO last night. So far I'm liking it. I used UnRevoked, and it was pretty easy actually. I finally had it with the bloatware that Sprint keeps forcing onto my phone.

The risk is it's possible to botch the job and brick your phone. In a nutshell, make sure your battery is full and the USB connection is solid. 1GB of space is free on the phone. Make sure your virus scanners are turned off. And otherwise follow the instructions. Don't get impatient and do anything stupid like reset your phone half way through.

I went here, and followed the instructions. http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-...g-dummies.html The video version is found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX8Xv25Qrqs

That's about it. It didn't wipe my phone, I didn't lose any of my data, nothing like that. In use, it looks like nothing changed in fact. And it's reversible (kind of important, just in case).

I then downloaded this APP, which utilizes my new SuperUser status as a root'ed phone. http://www.appbrain.com/app/bloat-fr...m.bloatfreezer Then went here to see what was safe to freeze:
http://www.technobuffalo.com/blog/co...phone-hostage/. You can just delete the bloat, but apparently there are complications with future upgrades and reversal if you do so, so the advise today is to just freeze it, which essentially quarantines the offending App.

Amazon MP3 - No thank you.
App Sharing - I don't share apps (I don't even know what that means)
Blockbuster - Seriously, why is this crap on my phone?
Calculator (and widget) - I use a better RPN style calculator
com.htc.socialnetwork.provider
DRM Protected Content Storage
Facebook
Facebook for HTC Sense - you know, just going to website in my browser works way better than any of the apps.
Flickr
FootPrints (And Widget) - actually I need to temporarily turn this one back on for an experiment
Friend Stream (and widget) - Like most of these, always running, even after I force close, and sucking up resources, and never used.
HTC Checkin Service
NASCAR
News
News Widget
NOVA
Peep
Qik
Sprint Football Live
Sprint Navigation
Sprint Zone
Stocks
Stocks Widget
Teeter
Twitter Widget

There's a bunch more I plan on Freezing. I then installed Wifi Tether - and now have a free mobile hotspot. Correction, I now have access to the data line that I'm already paying for, via other mobile devices that can connect via wifi to my phone.